MOOKIN 26th July 2024
A generous EP, nearly half an hour long, from the gentle Potato. It’s an unfortunate name, dooming the South London band to internet searches that call up the Hot Potato Band, who are pretty much the antithesis of this band. This lot are thoughtful instrumentalists. Their publicity would have them as experimental but I’m going with jazzy folktronica. A burbling stream of sounds, melodies and images. Arrangements are as important as the song lyrics and you’ll hear lonely piano, clarinet, bubbling bass. There might be hanging grand piano notes and chords or there might be a lyrical acoustic guitar or a deeply thoughtful voice.
The quartet have five songs, loosely based around relationships, illustrated by fragmented pictures as much as by emotional musings. The effect is a late night dreamy doze, even on ‘Post-Potato Reprise’, where the chorus repeats “she owns the night” as the singer recalls the aftermath of a Bacchanalian Shoreditch hen party where one moment for an over-refreshed woman creates the abiding image of the night for him. The next track has the musical sense of waves coming and going as arpeggios come and go. The sound is lovely, having a sense of being in the same room, with the sound of the guitar strings being plucked.
The overall EP is meditative and cumulative, calling for a repeat listen straight away, to continue the mood rather than to recapture the songs. It’s one to sit and soak in on headphones on a warm late evening.
Bob Corduroy – Vocals, Guitars, Keys, Piano, Clarinet and Percussion
Sam Zissou – Drums and Percussion
Matt Wildman – Bass, Guitars and Percussion
Sam Honey – Guitar